This is a jam-packed blog, get ready for:

AI in Freelance: 10 ways to integrate AI into your freelance writing workflow (with examples!)
Try This: the 2 best and easiest tools to get started with

Okay, okay, you’re probably wondering, Why should I learn how to use AI? Isn’t it going to take our jobs?

Well, I’m here to tell you that anyone who is outsourcing their writing completely to AI wasn’t going to be your client to begin with – they couldn’t afford you and didn’t value you. But also that you can prevent burnout, speed up your workflow, and use AI to bounce ideas off of!

You can use AI to speed up that #firstdraftfeeling to get your client work out more efficiently. I think of AI as an intern. I give them as many details as possible to help me brainstorm and draft parts of my work, but I don’t trust them to do the entire job themselves.

10 ways to use generative AI in your freelance writing workflow

I’ve tried over 50 different prompts and techniques with AI, so you don’t have to. Here are the techniques I’ve actually found helpful and added AI to my workflow. You can use these methods with ChatGPT or Lex!

1. Writing introductions and outros

I like to ask ChatGPT to summarize what I’ve written, or I’ll use Lex’s “summarize” feature. That creates a good synopsis of my blog post. Then, I’ll use that as the base for my intros and outros, adding a lede and personality in the brand’s voice (see the next tip for more on this) to jazz it up!

2. Brainstorm in a brand’s voice

My favorite way to use ChatGPT is by asking it to write something in the voice of an actor or archetype. Most brands I write for give me an archetype, movie or TV character, or a famous actor that emulates the voice they’re going for.

So I’ll input something like, “What would April Ludgate think about using AI for sales?” or “How would Ryan Reynolds talk about digital business cards?”

This adds more personality and style to what outputs! Obviously, you’ll need to edit this, and sometimes they come out super cheesy. But it always makes me laugh and sparks inspiration! (also see number 9. AI Assistant)

Screenshot asking ChatGPT to rephrase text using Ryan Reynold’s tone.

3. Answering FAQs

The best-ranking blog posts always answer at least three frequently asked questions. These little sections of blog posts (which are primarily for the search engine and not necessarily the reader), can be tedious to write.

I outsource them to AI (either “generate from selection” in Lex or by just asking ChatGPT the question). Then, I rewrite it in the client’s voice and fact-check it. Saves me time and brainpower!

4. Generating headlines, title ideas, subject lines, and outlines

I always get tripped up on headlines. And, while I’m amazing at writing subject lines (my open rates don’t lie), it usually takes me a while to brainstorm enough of them for a gem to appear in the rough.

I love using ChatGPT and Lex’s headline tool to brainstorm a large amount of ideas at once. Usually, none of them are fully useable without tweaking, but it frequently comes up with words or ideas I wouldn’t have thought to use.

5. Empathizing with your audience: brainstorming pain points and USPs

The best writers can empathize with their audience. But even the best writers can’t remember everything. I’ll use ChatGPT to brainstorm lists of pain points and unique selling points.

Pro Tip (that doesn’t use AI): Sometimes, I also go to Facebook Groups or Reddit and pull wording directly from people’s questions and complaints to inform my copywriting!

6. Rewording phrases and creative synonyms

You can ask ChatGPT to reword something or use the “reword” feature in Lex to rewrite things for you. Whether it just sounds funny or you want to triple-ensure you’re not plagiarizing by rewriting it twice (with AI and then on your own), this’ll save you tons of time and mental fatigue.

7. Coming up with challenges & benefits

Much like empathizing with your audience, if you want to sell well in your copywriting, you need to know what you’re selling. While you probably know some challenges with your product or that your customers are facing and the benefits of your product. You may want to brainstorm a few more ideas!

Asking ChatGPT to answer a question about body doubling and virtual coworking for freelance.

8. Executing copywriting formulas for baseline ideas

Copywriting has been around for a long time, and the “greats” of yore created formulas to teach good copywriting. There are hundreds of formulas out there in books, blog posts, podcasts, YouTube videos, courses, etc. You can feed any of these formulas to ChatGPT along with some information about the brand or product to get some baseline copy when you’re stumped or need to reduce your cognitive load.

Asking ChatGPT to share the PAS copywriting formula and to come up with 10 ideas for blog posts relating to ADHD, flow state, and body doubling.

9. AI Assistant

If you’re feeling stumped or just want your own unpaid intern, you can feed ChatGPT information about your client’s brand to assist you.

I input something like this: Hey ChatGPT, I need a [type of writing] assistant today. Can I give you some information about the brand I’m writing for so you can help me write on-brand [deliverable type] for them?

Asking ChatGPT to be a virtual assistant to help me write on-brand blog posts for a freelance client.

Then, I just copy and paste publicly accessible info about the brand (see disclaimers for more info about what not to put in here…) like:

Copy from their website or emails
Snippets of their style guide or brand voice guide
Advertisement copy
The brand’s name
What the brand does
The audience I want to speak to

10. Brainstorm Ideal Clients

Stumped on who to pitch? You need to brainstorm more Ideal Clients. Ask ChatGPT to give you a list of companies in your niche!

Disclaimers

Be sure to fact-check any information that you get from AI

Sometimes AI outputs bad or misinformation, where it’s unintentionally yet completely wrong. Be sure to find a reputable/reliable source that corroborates what you’ve read from AI.

Reword any sentences that you decided to use from AI software

Sometimes AI pulls from a source word-for-word (although it *shouldn’t*, it can – so to avoid plagiarism, reword or paraphrase everything you get from AI software. Grammarly is a great tool to check for plagiarism.

Check your NDAs and Contracts before using AI tools

Check your Contract & NDA. If you signed a contract or NDA from a client (rather than using your own contract), read it thoroughly before you use AI tools. Some companies have clauses prohibiting freelancers from using AI.

Don’t input confidential information in AI tools

When you submit inputs, prompts, and information to AI tools, you’re giving the creator of that tool consent to use those submissions. Respect your NDA and don’t input anything proprietary or private!

Try This

I’ve rounded up the easiest tools for you to get started with generative AI. While these tools are awesome, you can probably also just start with whatever software you’re already using. Odds are, they’re integrating AI already.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a free, chat tool. It’s the most well-known and accessible AI tool but it can also be the toughest to learn because the possibilities are so endless. Once you try it out, though it starts to just feel like chatting with an assistant. The only way to get good with ChatGPT is to play around with it! (Check out the Juicy Stuff section for some free starter prompts and techniques!)

Lex

Lex is a word processor offering AI that is “like an editor.” You can ask its built-in AI for feedback, brainstorming, summaries, or to rewrite anything. If you already use GoogleDocs, it’s an easy way to start adding AI to your workflow because it’s basically just like GoogleDocs but with more keyboard shortcuts and AI built-in (and it’s better than the AI that GoogleDocs is currently beta testing – I’ve tried both).

Are you using AI for freelance content writing?